Maximum Ride-- The New World
by Midnight Star 2373
Summary: Max, Fang and the flock have survived the flood that covers Earth. Max and Fang can finally be together-Except for Dylan! Can Dylan get over Max? Meanwhile, Max and Fang are trying to keep order among the Earth's new population: Forty bird kids. When a surprise mutant shows up Fang and Max are torn but try to stay together. Will it work? Love conquers all, right? Or is it wrong?
1. Chapter 1

MAX's POV

I looked over the water and a sadness filled me. Did my mother, Dr. Martinez, survive? Did my sister, Ella? I desperately needed to know. Fang, who was sitting next to me, held my hand. When he was with me, everything felt all right. I believed I could do anything with him. I didn't feel that way with anyone else. Just Fang.

_What about Dylan?_ Angel asked in my mind. Oh, yeah-Angel can read minds and can transmit thoughts into your head. FWI- Don't have any embarrassing thoughts around her.

I scowled. When Fang had left, Dylan had tried to replace him. Dylan had always loved me. When Fang was with me, I didn't love Dylan back, but after Fang left I was torn apart. Torn, shredded, and scattered. Dylan had almost convinced me that I loved him. I felt good being around him and his movie-star looks. That was before Fang returned. After Fang returned, I lost my feelings for Dylan. Dylan was hurt, but he never gave up trying to get me. He even tried to kill Fang. Only my desperate pleading saved Fang.

_I don't love Dylan anymore,_ I thought. Angel nodded her head. Just then, Mr. I Love Max showed up. I was really mad at him now. Now he got to pay for trying to kill Fang. I stood up, Fang in sinc with me and stared Dylan in the eyes.

"Fang," I warned, "Step away. I have a score to settle with Dylan." Fang nodded and stepped away, next to Angel.

"Max!" Dylan's face lit up. "I'm so glad your OK! I thought you were dead!"

"Why are you glad that I'm alive and not that Fang or Angel survived?" I snapped. "Oh, wait, I know-because you want me all for yourself. Well guess what? You blew that hope when you tried to kill Fang!"

"I-I-Didn't mean it! He-he-I mean-M-my creator programmed me to kill him!" Dylan stuttered, surprised at my anger.

"I was programmed to save to world and yet I destroyed it-for the one I loved," I retorted, looking at Fang. I was told that in order to save the world, Fang must die. But I loved Fang way too much to let that happen.

"Well," Dylan started, "You could have had me." He looked way to hopeful.

"Why? Just cause you love me doesn't mean I like you!" I yelled.

"I just want the best for you," Dylan said. "Fang was dangerous to you, and I never want you in danger!"

"Says the one that wanted to breed with me somewhere in Europe!" I snapped as I shoved Dylan, hard. Dylan didn't resist. In fact, he looked on the verge of tears. I might have killed the boy if Fang hadn't spoke up: "Max is mine." Fang said quietly. "You can find someone else."

"Does Max agree with you?" Dylan challenged. "Maybe she likes someone else!"

"I love Fang," I said. "And. I. Hate. You. Dylan." My patience for the guy was *this* much.  
Dylan glared at Fang as he extended his wings and flew away. I smiled at Fang and Angel. I was finally done with Dylan.

I turned to Fang and longing filled my mind. I covered Angel's eyes with my hand while I kissed Fang; she was, after all, only seven years old. When we finally pulled away Angel tugged my hand.

"There's some kids!" she exclaimed. "They need to talk to you."

Two bird kids, about eight years old or so, came up to me. One was a boy and the other a girl. The boy held his hand behind his back. Both had red-rimmed eyes.

"Whats the matter?" I asked, switching to fearless leader mode.

"He-he-was attacked," the girl sobbed. "By-by-a shark!"

"How?" I wondered as the boy showed the arm he had hid behind his back. It had a big bite-mark in it. It wasn't bleeding anymore but it looked painful.

"We were swimming up from the cave entrance because a woman told us too, and then as we swam a shark bit his arm!" the little girl was crying now. "The shark then swan off but more came. None of them attacked, though."

I looked over at Fang. His dark eyes showed worry. Angel was crying too.

_He's in a lot of pain right now,_ Angel said in my mind. Fang nodded; she must have told him too.

_All right, will you swim down and try to help the rest of the bird kids? You can keep the sharks from attacking_, I thought to Angel. Angel could speak to animals that swam in the ocean. As she dived into the water I tore the bottom off my shirt and wrapped the cloth around the boy's wound.

"Where's Angel going?" Fang asked me.

"To help the other kids get out," I replied. The girl and the boy curled up on the ground and I realized how tired they must be. They were soon asleep. I sat down on the ground and Fang copied me. I dangled my legs over the edge of the small cliff we sat on. It was about three feet high, nothing for us bird kids. Fang looked me in the eyes.

"We will have some time alone, right?" he asked.

"I'll try," I sighed. "Being in charge is hard, especially because we have to rebuld everything, but I'll try. You know I want nothing more than to be with you."

"I can help lead," Fang suggested. "We have a lot of kids and two leaders will have a smaller burden than just one."

"That would be great," I agreed. "It's never easy on your own. When people like you and some don't its hard."

"Remember when the flock kicked you out?" Fang asked. "They let Angel be in charge. Angel is great, but she's seven, not fifteen. Besides, she would probably let Iggy drive."

I smiled. Iggy was blind but not helpless. He was the best cook and knew us all by touch, but driving? No, not for him.

"I feel bad for Angel," I murmured. "She said when the scientist's captured her they experimented on her eyes and now everything is blurry for her."

"She'll heal," Fang said. "With her luck, she'll develop a healing power and heal herself and Iggy. Imagine that! A not-blind Iggy!"

"That will be weird," I agreed. "Iggy will be even better with bombs. Too bad he won't have any evil scientists' to use them on."

"Like me?" came a familiar voice. Me and Fang whirled around; that was the voice of an evil scientist we knew well. They very one that cloned Dylan. Fang tackled the man and we heard Gazzy's voice: "Oof! Let me up! It's me!" Fang stood up and offered his hand. The Gasman stood up and smiled at us with his angelic blue eyes.

"I was just playing a joke on you because I heard you talking about evil scientists'." he said. Yeah, Gazzy can imitate any voice perfectly. One of his powers.


	2. Chapter 2

As the Gasman settled down next to Fang and me he told us how he got out of the cave.

"Your mom, Dr. Martinez, said we should go out in groups of at least two. Two kids left before she was done explaining the plan so she sent me out to look for them. I guess you found them then." the Gasman sighed. "I really am hungry. I don't suppose there is any desert rat around here?"

"No," I said, "But we have fish, if we can catch them. Fang, do you want to get some wood for a fire ready? We can fry fish tonight." Fang and the Gasman started looking for dead wood on the small island while I figured out how to catch fish. I tried flying up in the air and diving with my hands outstretched but that didn't do anything. Then I started walking along and found some clams or something that were washed ashore. I collected these and brought them to the young bird kids. Fang and Gazzy had started a fire and started cooking the clams. They didn't taste that bad if you were hungry. After we ate we laid down, me and Fang curled up together. I remembered the last night we had slept together. It was great until Dylan interrupted us.

At around midnight there was some noise and Iggy came with some new bird kids from the cave. We were thankful that they had some canned food with them. Iggy cooked five cans up and we all shared; our dinner of clams wasn't very filling. All night more bird kids would arrive at different times. It wasn't until morning that the last bird kids and my mother and sister arrived.

Iggy cooked some more cans up although we had only two or three spoonfuls each; there were about forty bird kids with huge appettites and only about a hundred cans. Everyone was hungry but that meant that everyone was willing to work harder for their food. In the morning me and Fang organized some groups of five to look underwater for resources we could use. Most of the bird kids could breath underwater, which was a big help. As the kids brought wood and other building materials in, Fang, Iggy, Nudge and I would start building little houses for three or four bird kids to live in. My mom organized food distribution. Ella helped Mom and sometimes us. We all had a place in the new world were we could work. Once the town was established we could set up working shifts so that we had free time as well as work.  
The first house to go up would be mine and Fang's. We decided that as the leaders we should have our place to discuss the town politics-and umm, do other stuff. Then the rest of the houses were build. The town looked weird with all the houses being made out of a mixture of things but it felt like home. We all worked and everything was put together fairly quickly. Ella and Nudge decided who would live where and my Mom had a team of the older bird kids to help gather and give out food. If anyone had a gripe, they came to me, Fang, or Angel. After a month I started to get fed up with some of the gripes. For example:

"Max," a boy named Tommy said, "Noami keeps bossing me around!"

"Can't you fix that by yourself?" I snap. He leaves quickly.

"My wings are tired from so much work!" someone else complains.

"Get used to it!" I yell.

"I want internet access!" another boy.

"No! Do I look like a technology fixer kind of person? No! Leave me alone!"

By the end of the day I am tired. I fall into the hammock that we salvaged and is almost asleep by the time I feel someone else plop down on the other end. Fang. He brushes the hair from my face.

"Whats wrong?" He murmurs, rubbing the spot on my shoulder between my wings.

"I never thought being a leader was this hard!" I cry. I rarely cry. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've cried. But now I was tired and frustrated. "They can't handle even the littlest of problems!"

"Maybe we should set up like court or something," Fang suggested. "Like, Nudge and Gazzy could handle the little complaints, then if it was a worse problem Iggy and Angel could deal with it and if it was bad, like, major theft or murder or something you and I could handle that."

"Not a bad idea," I agreed. "If the flock agrees to it."

"We'll talk to them in the morning," Fang said.

In the morning Fang and I went back to rebuilding the town. Everyone had a house but we needed silos to store the food in. Then we had to find how to get food. That afternoon I organized a team of ten bird kids to fly around and look for any animals that could make food. Then they were to bring them back here. I organized another team of five bird kids to look for fields, trees, anything that had seeds to plant. By the end of the day, we had several different types of crops, such as wheat, corn, tomatoes, green beans and peas, and apple trees, orange trees and grape vines. We also had two milking cows, one goat and five chickens. We were doing pretty good.  
That night I went to sleep feeling very satisfied with my work. Our work. We had taken what we had and used it to get more. I was a born leader.

In the morning as I got up I heard a loud commotion. Some bird kid had seen an unidentified bird kid flying around. No one knew who it was. Apparently it was coming our way. After a few hours we heard a boat everyone flew to the shore were it was and guess who was in the boat? Fang's old gang. Star stepped out first, looking very sea sick. Kate came out next, followed by Ratchet and Holden. And me. Well, actually Maya, my clone.

"No," I whispered in shock. "Maya's dead."

"Nope," Maya said. "I was dead, but Jeb brought me back to life. He said it was because Ari wasn't supposed to kill me. I rounded up the old gang and now we are here."

I looked over at Fang and saw he was staring at Maya...looking at her the way he used to look at me. Now he looked at me like, Can she stay? I hardened my face up into a scowl.

"Fine. All of you can stay. But you must work like the rest of us." And with that I turned on my heel and walked away. And Fang started talking with Maya. What's happened with my life? I just got Fang back and now she turns up! Not fair!  
Later that day as I sulked in my house, my mother came with my measly lunch. She gave me a can of stuff that looked like baby food.

"Whats for lunch today?" I asked. "Is it canned spinach with a sprinkling of mold for flavor? Or, if I'm lucky, I get mashed brussel sprouts."

"It's mashed carrots," My mother said. She looked me in the eye. "You seem sad. Do you want to talk about it?" I hesitated. I did want to talk about it but I also didn't. Does that make sense? No? Sorry. I have a messed up, scrambled up, mind.

"Sure," I relented. She came inside and sat down on the hammock next to me. "You see, Fang is obviously in love with Maya. But he won't tell me anything. At least Dylan was truthful."

"But was Dylan who you really loved?" My mom asked. "I mean, you loved him but not with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. You loved Fang like that. I bet Fang likes Maya but not as much as he loves you."

"Then why does he never talk to me?" I wondered. "He is probably making out right now with her and later he'll come and see me and won't say a word. I mean, look! I've made a list of all the little gestures he's made with Maya that makes it look like their dating!" I threw a notebook at my mom. Inside it said:  
1. Holds Maya's hand when thinks no one is looking  
2. Talks with her way more than with me  
3. Both Maya and Fang magically disapear at the same time...Hmmmmm  
4. Looks at her like they just got married. Ick!  
5. Always smiles at her  
The list went on and on.

"Wow," my mom said. "That is a little...diapointing. I think what you need is to let him talk to you. I could, but if he really loves you he'll come to you."

"Yeah," I agreed, "He'll come talk to me: 'Hey, Max? Do you mind if I date Maya? I promise I'll have you on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.'"

My mom sighed and patted my knee. "Just wait. It will all work out." She left me alone, thinking about Fang and Maya. What If I was the clone and Maya was the real Max? She just posed as the clone and I'm really it? Why is my life so messed up? I was going to flay Fang alive. Just you see.

That night Fang was really late coming home. I pretended to be asleep but I knew Fang wouldn't be fooled. When he finally lay down on the hammock he said, "I know your awake. You muscles need to relax to look realistic."  
I turned over and looked at him. "What if I wasn't trying to look asleep?" I asked. "Listen, Fang, we need to talk."

"About what?" He wondered, looking innocent. I wasn't fooled. I grabbed my notebook and wrote, 23. Pretends to be innocent  
Fang looked at the notebook and read my list of accusations. He finally looked over at me and raised an eyebrow in question.

"I saw all of that," I spat. "Everything between you and Maya. Speaking of which, why were you late in coming home?"

"I was doing some research," Fang replied.

"Uh huh," I agreed. "Research on how Maya's lips feel against yours."  
Fang just looked away. "Can I trust you?" I asked. "Actually, maybe I should get back with Dylan. At least he told me the truth."

"Don't ever get back with Dylan," Fang said angrily.  
I stared Fang in the eye. "Then you need to tell me everything. Everything. Oh, and by the way, I moving in with Nudge."

"Why?" Fang asked.

"Because I figured you would want Maya to move in with you," I replied. Fang opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Finally he said, "Are you dumping me?"

"No," I said. "You dumped me when you started going out with Maya."

"I'm not-"

"We both know that you love her," I yelled. "Stop lying! I'll find someone like you. Someone that wants and cares about me." I jumped up and walked toward the door. Fang grabbed my arm. "What?" I demanded.

"Stay," he whispered. "I love you."  
The first time he said he loved me and I am not happy. I was furious.

"You should have figured that out a long time ago," I hissed. "Its too late. Go tell Maya you love her." I ran out the door and flew into the night sky. I was crying but no one could see me. At least, no one that I know of. Someone grabbed me from behind and I lashed out, thinking it was Fang. But it was Dylan.

"What is wrong?" he asked, seeing my tears.

"Go away, Dylan," I yelled. "And stay away!" I burst into full flying speed and was thirty miles away in the blink of an eye. I kept flying and flying until I spotted some land. I landed there and curled up, planning to never go back to Fang and Dylan and Maya. I had enough bad things in my life without them. I realized with a jolt that my mom was right: I loved Fang with all my heart, soul and mind and I wanted him to be happy. And he was happy with Maya. I wouldn't go back and ruin their love like Dylan ruined mine. I wouldn't be a third wheel. I would leave the flock, become the lone bird, worrying about how I would survive each day so I wouldn't have to think about Fang. If Fang was happy I should be too. Life was really full of sacrifices, wasn't it? I fell asleep on the cold sand.


End file.
